Date of Award
6-1997
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Dr. Douglas Davidson
Second Advisor
Dr. Tyler
Third Advisor
Dr. James C. Petersen
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
This thesis explores the experiences of Japanese children and adolescents who reside in the United States as a consequence of their parents' jobs and examines how they adapted to a local society and how their cultural identities were affected by living in the United States before establishing stable identities. This study was completed by relating existing literature to interviews with a sample of Japanese children and adolescents, their mothers, and their teachers who reside in a Midwestern urban areas.
Experiences of the Japanese children and adolescents were examined in terms of their English language skills, Japanese language skills, family lives, school lives both at local schools and Japanese supplementary schools, cultural identities and adaptation problems.
The conclusion was that half of the Japanese children and adolescents among respondents adapted well to the local society, and half of them did not adapt well to the local society. The problematic point is that they have to return to Japan and re-adapt to the Japanese system with American identities. In addition, certain problems with Japanese cultural values related to diversity and Japanese education were revealed from this research.
Recommended Citation
Namiki, Akiko, "The Education and Cultural Adaptation: Experiences of Japanese Children in Foreign Cultures" (1997). Masters Theses. 4166.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/4166